Former Samajwadi Party leader and Rajya Sabha MP Amar Singh, on Monday, announced that his Lok Manch would now serve as an umbrella organisation of various smaller political parties in Uttar Pradesh. Till now, Mr Singh has insisted that the Lok Manch was a non-political organisation.
Shortly after getting reprieve from the Supreme Court in the disqualification case against him and Ms Jaya Prada, Mr Singh said that he would now conduct political business under the banner of Lok Manch.
“After being expelled from the Samajwadi Party, I had asked Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav if he wanted me to resign from Rajya Sabha but he said that if I resigned, the seat would be won by the BSP which he did not want. Hence, he asked me to continue. But some time later, Ram Gopal Yadav filed a petition seeking my and Jaya Prada’s disqualification. We were, hence, forced to go to the Supreme Court and I am happy that my faith in judiciary has been upheld,” he said at a press conference here.
Replying to a question, Mr Singh said that the Samajwadi Party had misused the reservation policy to benefit only one particular backward caste.